Psychiatry is likely to evolve into a number of subspecialty areas,
paralleling developments in other medical specialties. These changes are
impelled both from within psychiatry, where the rapid increase in knowledge
and skills makes mastery of the entire field by any one practitioner less
possible, and from without, related to new expectations for psychiatric
services from referral sources and patients, increasing competition by
other physicians and nonphysician mental health care providers, and
shifting reimbursement patterns. The authors discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of subspecialization as well as implications for psychiatric
practitioners and training programs.Abstract Teaser